The year ahead: beginning to plan

So I have my computer back now, which is nice but I'm also a little scared because in the time I had no computer my productivity around the house increased dramatically! I have made a resolution to try and limit my time on the computer so my new habits can continue.

One of the things I've been trying to do over the past couple of weeks has been to do some planning and organising of our family's routine and schedule. It's really the only way I think I will be able to manage everything with four children with varying needs this year. (I need to take a deep breath just thinking about it!)

My strategy is to have two separate basic routines sorted - a daily one (broken into morning and afternoon, as before and after school are the 'peak' times in our house at the moment) and a weekly one. It's a good exercise at the beginning of the year to sit down and work out what I want our weeks and days to look like.

I start with the daily one and think through all the things that need to happen - meals, teeth brushing, reading the Bible, homework, piano practice, etc. Then I work out whether we have other space to fit things in that would be nice, but not essential - reading stories definitely fits into this category and I always try to make sure we have enough time in the evening for some fiction reading with the kids. (Dave and I both do this with various combinations of the older kids at the moment.) 

Weekly it's a similar strategy - sleep, school and church are non negotiables. Then there's everything else. I have to fit in regular doctor's appointments, speech and occupational therapy appointments for various children.  Each of these effectively wipes out an afternoon so I need to be realistic about that.

Next there's extra-curricular activities. At this time each year I feel the pressure to get whipped up into a frenzy of signing the kids up to every before and after school activity available, or feeling guilty that I can't. There's a lot of notes that come home in the school bags detailing the latest wonderful thing your child could try and a lot of guilt laid on if you deprive your kids of something they might like to do after school. The approach I try and take to extra-curricular activities is to think through what is best for the family first and then what is best for the child. Whether I am capable of getting the kids to various activities, how it will impact on the baby and other kids IS relevant. Having four children in the family may mean they don't get to do as many extra-curricular activities as kids from smaller families, or it might mean that they just do different ones (eg. two of ours are having piano lessons this year again, but the teacher is coming to us - excellent!).

I find that the trick is to maintain my confidence that I'm not depriving my child if they don't spend every afternoon enriching their lives with French lessons and soccer training. Also, I find that it's worth reminding myself again and again that what I'm aiming for might be quite different from other families. I want to spend time with my kids after school (I already spend 6 hours away from them as it is!) and I want them to spend time with each other too. I also want to have the time and energy to open up our house to friends as well. That won't realistically happen if I cram the weekly routine too full.

The other thing that I think is important in writing up a routine is leaving more space than you think you need. I try to assume that kids will get sick and tired and things will crop up that we weren't expecting and leave some gaps.

So that's where I begin - by working out my daily and weekly routines. I'd love to hear some other approaches though - how do you start planning your time at the beginning of the year?